Sand production control by chemical consolidation

Production of sand during oil production causes severe operational problem for oil producers. Several techniques have been used for sand production control in sandstone reservoirs. These techniques are divided into four groups including; standard rig operation with retrievable packer: tubing-conveyed string; coiled tubing and long zone/selective treatment. Several consolidating materials, such as, crude oil coke and nickel plating, have been used in the past by researchers. At present, the chemical binders. such as; phenol resin, phenol-formaldehyde, epoxy, and furan or phenol-furfural provide cementation. The main object of this paper is to present a suitable resin to be used as consolidating agent in the Asmari oil wells of the Ahwaz and Mansoori oil fields. Considering the locally produced resins and required desirable characteristics of resins for consolidation process, six types of resins including: two types of epoxy resins, three types of phenolformaldehyde resins and a single type of acrylic resin were selected for testing. Different core samples were made by mixing these resins and their hardening agents with a sand sample provided from the Ahwaz and Mansoori oil fields in various percentages. The core samples are tested for permeability, porosity and compressive strength measurement. The obtained experimental data showed that only for a given type of phenol-formaldehyde resins, the permeability and porosity of the core samples are retained in acceptable values and their compressive strength become greater than 3000 psi. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.